homemade small base dies,is it safe?

[bossman]

The problem:I have an unlimited supply of once fired winchester Q3131 brass that I reload for by AR15.I am having trouble resizing this brass,with the resizing die screwed in to touch the shell holder it still seems too long when chambered in the rifle.The rifle functions perfectly with all brands of factory ammo and handloads that I`ve made using other brands of brass.The problem is,when trying to extract a live round from the chamber I have to whack the charging handle with a plastic mallet to get it out(this happens regardless if the barrel is hot or cold).The Qloads chamber and fire,extrtact and eject when fired but simply will not come out of the rifle if they are not fired unless undue force is used.
I`ve been told that the trouble is that winchester used a different alloy for this brass thats allowing the cases to "springback" after being withdrawn from the sizing die.
I`ve also been told that to fix the problem I should get a set of RCBS small base dies which resize the brass to tighter tolerances than the Hornady new dimension dies I`m currently using.
To test this theory I took my hornady sizing die and removed .003" from the bottom of the die,I loaded ten rounds with it after that and they now extract perfectly.
My question is........have I fixed the problem or have I made cartridges which have excessive headspace in a chamber that is well within specs?
I will not fire these rounds until I get some advice from those who know.
Thanks in advance,
Bossman

[jdburke]

I have reloaded a boatload of .223, most of it being surplus brass. I found that by using a cartridge headspace guage,(or a precision cartridge mic will work) to set the sizing die will give almost flawless results. I prefer the cartridge headspace guage because it will check the actual case headspace as well as check the case overall or trim length. You might also check to see if you are "over crimping" the bullet and causing the case neck to buldge oversize. Good hunting!

[Bret]

Bossman,

Like jdburke said, you need to have a way to measure the headspace of brass fired in your rifle and the reloads that you are making. This will allow you to headspace your reloads a few thousandths smaller than your rifle's chamber. It will also allow you to better find out what is causing your problem. I use a Stoney Point Precision Mic and love it. It has interchangeable parts to cover almost every rifle cartridge.

As for your problem, from what you have detailed, I would bet that your problem was caused by the reloads that you made having too much headspace (relative to that particular rifle). What you did reduced the headspace 0.003". This may have been enough to allow it to chamber and extract OK. It probably didn't make much of a difference at all in sizing the base area any more. Unfortunately, you will not know for sure until you have a way to measure heaspace. The problem might also be caused by excessive roll crimping or cases that need to be trimmed.

- Bret